Breaking “The Underdog Curse” is a show for vitalistic Chiropractors about breaking free from limiting beliefs, and how to overcome being stuck as an underdog. Your Host Dr. Don MacDonald is a Chiropractor, coach and the author of the bestselling book “The Underdog Curse”. Hear Dr. Don’s personal interviews with thought leaders, bestselling authors, and Chiropractors from around the world. All designed to inspire you, challenge you and help you live more aligned with who you truly are.

We are here with Dr. Laura Jean Baxter-Gravelle. She’s from London, Ontario and has been in practice for 15 years. She and other chiropractors collaborated to write a book "The Art of Being Healthy," which is a book on the real-life accounts of mothers and children healing through Chiropractic. On this interview, she shares the story of how her daughter, Lucy, was healed through chiropractic adjustments.

Also, Dr. Laura shares how difficult and stressful it was to try to scale up her business and do everything by herself. That’s when she decided to enroll herself to Vitality Shift. After watching the videos from that program, she shifted her practice from a little basement to a 1,500-sqft office. Get all the resources for this episode and listen to more at http://www.drdonmacdonald.com/

When we are disconnected from ourselves, we become a different person, someone we think we’re supposed to be because that’s what we learned from our past experiences.

On this episode, we are here with Dr. Tony Miller. He graduated from Life University in 2013 and has been in practice for three years.

The number one thing that Tony struggled with was always feeling authentic, and it took him 30 years to discover his true being. Until he realized what his real power was, it was exhausting and stressful for him to borrow other people’s vision and wear their personas. He was even dreading Mondays because he wasn’t sure why he was in his practice doing what he was doing.

On this episode, he shares how discovering who he really is has created freedom for him and made his practice more fun. He realizes that his power is to be in this connecting and passionate place. Unlike before, now, he is looking forward to connecting with people whatever they’re coming in with. Get all the resources for this episode and listen to more at http://www.drdonmacdonald.com/

Dr. Nick Laurie says that doing a lot of personal development, going to many seminars as you can, and having a mentor can teach you the quickest way to grow your practice and reach your target without sacrificing your family and health.

Nick has been in practice for close to 18 years. He graduated from NZCC where he was in their 2nd class. He also came up with Fiji on Fire, where chiropractors have the opportunity to learn from ‘Chiropractic masters’ through power sessions and hanging out.

Nick shares how he got hung up on the value of achievement and got focused on the numbers which made him felt isolated from his family and friends. He did things to make up with it, but didn’t realize it was putting his health at risk.

Nick had a heart attack, and when he recovered, the things he learned from coaching and self-development programs have helped him to rebuild himself and his relationship with the people around him. Get all the resources for this episode and listen to more at http://www.drdonmacdonald.com/

Not all people who go to chiropractic clinics understand what chiropractic is all about and its true message. Thus, for people in practice, it is vital to be able to understand people's health views and let go of those who don’t accept your message.

On today’s episode, we are here with Dr. Paul McCrossin. He has been in practice for 23 years, very much involved in the United Chiropractic Association, and helps other chiropractors practice safely and ethically. He talks about the reasons why people complain and how to handle it. For him, it’s a feedback when people complain.

Paul says that miscommunication is one of the reasons why there’s a disconnection between the chiropractor and the practice member. People drop out of care because they feel they’re not being listened to or the chiropractor doesn’t care. When you communicate where they’re at, you would be on the same page making them feel connected to you. Get all the resources for this episode and listen to more at http://www.drdonmacdonald.com/

Being with like-minded people and having a mentor can definitely up your game. Dr. Ernest Li invested his money, time, and effort attending seminars, which made him realized what his true value is.

On today’s episode, we are with my mastermind buddy, Dr. Ernest Li. He is a chiropractor, and a businessman who owns real estates and a pub.

Dr. Li wouldn't have discovered chiropractic unless he hadn’t gone into his fifth car accident. The accidents he had caused him pain that made it tough for him to focus on school. He tried everything else and ended up seeing a chiropractor as his last resort. After three adjustments, he felt better than a year and a half of physiotherapy and massage combined.

Like other chiropractors, Dr. Li also overdid the practice, got burned out, worked his butt off serving his patients, which took him away from family time. That was the time when he thought that there must be easier ways to make money other than being a chiropractor. When he started investing his money in various things, he realized it isn’t easy and that no matter what business you’re in, you got to work hard. Get all the resources for this episode and listen to more at http://www.drdonmacdonald.com/

People want to know more about Heart Rate Variability and how to use that application in order to deepen conversations with practice members.

On today's episode, we have Dr. David Fletcher to discuss HRV and to help us understand it in the Chiropractic setting. Also, he shares how to describe HRV in a simplistic model to your practice member when you’re doing it.

How chiropractic differently impacts the HRV compared to sleeping or exercising is that it engages specific parasympathetic feeds, arousing the body’s innate responsiveness, and giving it an energetic boost so it can keep the momentum going. Get all the resources for this episode and listen to more at http://www.drdonmacdonald.com/

Some institutions have an oppressive environment where students are forbidden from being exposed to Vitalistic Chiropractic. They’re in a culture where they are afraid of making adjustments and of saying anything.

On this episode, we are here with Dr. Marc Hudson. He graduated from Parker College of Chiropractic in 1994. He, together with his wife, Lynn, created ChiroEurope. They also founded Barcelona Chiropractic College, where they were able to raise two and a half million euros to establish it.

Dr. Hudson says that you can’t be a Vitalistic Chiropractor when you practice in fear. It is because fear keeps you away from your practice or your dreams. He shares how chiropractors can get over their fears for them to achieve success. Moreover, Dr. Hudson also talks about ChiroEurope and how unique it is in the chiropractic world right now. Get all the resources for this episode and listen to more at http://www.drdonmacdonald.com/

On today's episode, we are with Dr. Rick Wren, a fantastic chiropractor, and one of the most prominent leaders of all the Parker seminars I've been to over the last 20 years.

Dr. Wren also has one of the biggest hearts you’ll ever see in the world. He, together with the Chiropractic Emergency Response Team provided help to people who were affected by Hurricane Harvey and Irma.

He is the founder of the Society of Chiropractic Masters, which is designed to take you through the 21 Principles of Practice Success to help chiropractors not only become a Master of Chiropractor but a Master of Chiropractic Success.

Dr. Wren shares about how he started speaking at Parker and why chiropractors should try to attend as many seminars as you can. He says that it wasn't speaking that got him fired on; instead, it was the community he was with. Get all the resources for this episode and listen to more at http://www.drdonmacdonald.com/

Dr. Nicole Lederman knew she wanted to be a doctor and help people at an early age. She graduated from CMCC in 2000 and then worked as a locum for almost three years in Ontario. When she moved to Texas together with her husband, she ended up teaching in the clinic and on the academic side of Parker. After 11 years of teaching, she realized it was time for her and her family to come back to Canada to start a new phase of life.

On this episode, Dr. Lederman talks about how her 18 years in practice have been like. As a woman who is less than five-foot tall, she emphasizes that size doesn't matter. In fact, she shares that small female chiropractors are highly specific when making the adjustments.

As a working mom, she also experienced being burned out and not being her vibrant, healthy self which taught her that it isn't true that you can have balance. What’s true is you can choose what you want to do. Moreover, being herself, doing self-care, and connecting with others is the biggest things that have helped her over the time. Get all the resources for this episode and listen to more at http://www.drdonmacdonald.com/

On today’s episode, we are going to switch the tables to learn more about the ultimate underdog, Dr. Don MacDonald. Don shares how his last 18 years of being in chiropractic have been like.When Don was starting out his practice, he apparently loved chiropractic and the potential of what it could do for people, and then, it became not that for him. During the first seven years of his practice, everything seems like such a price for him that he lost any vision of what the promise was.

Don was able to keep the practice at a good volume and still did a lot of things for the profession, but it was at a huge detriment to his health. He had gone through a couple of issues and trauma that not only burned him out mentally but also his health. He felt broken, hurt, and exhausted all the time.

What Don realized was he was not doing what he needed to do to take care of himself. What he did is he focused on his body and on few things that he knew are going to make the most significant difference in his practice. Aside from perseverance, another key to his success is his wife, Brandi, who supports him of what he does. Get all the resources for this episode and listen to more at http://www.drdonmacdonald.com/